Life is full of ups and downs. It was a typical day, got up, got some food, went to work. Went to workout to escape work for a while. Came back from the workout to find my phone off, odd. I turned it back on thinking nothing of it. Set it down and continued on with my daily life. Went back to the phone while some code was compiling and it was off again... I don't recall the battery being dead, what is this. I attempted to boot it back up and nothing. Huh, weird. I didn't have a charger at work so I waited until I got home. Once home I plugged it in, let it charge for a while, then tried to boot again, nothing. Not even a boot loader. I contacted support, after 30 minutes of hold music and talking with them they decided my phone was now a fancy brick that did nothing and filled a claim to replace it. 3 days later I got a new phone, but I learn some things during these three days.

These phones consume all the little "ah ha" moments of our life. We go through life consumers of information. The average american process more than 34 gigabits of data per day. That's a lot of data! This had me thinking, when do we process all of this information. I believe a lot of it is real time processing, but some of it has a secondary wave of processing that happens during the microseconds of our day that nothing is happening. Think about the last time you had an ah ha moment. Sometimes I get very complex problems to solve at work. I'll stew over it all day, and walk away defeated at the end of the day. I go to sleep that night and randomly I'll wake in the middle of the night with the solution. I keep a journal at my bedside for exactly this. My brain took time during a REM cycle to think through the issue that stumped me all day. This is just one instance of an "ah ha" moment, but others include: waiting for the coffee machine, waiting in a queue, sitting on the toilet, etc... I think this should be time for meditation and secondary processing. We see it so often in society today. People are overwhelmed with thoughts, busy minds if you will. I totally have a busy mind. Sometimes I just write something down to get it out. It helps. So any way, I noticed without my phone I had time to think things through and it helped a lot. I felt less busy, was more productive, less easily distracted, and happier.

There were negatives not having a phone as well. No music while in the car, no navigation, no communication with loved ones and friends. So I decided when I got my new phone, no social media. I kept Instagram because that is the only way you can post. I'm going to leave my social media swiping to when I'm on a computer. Which will make it less frequent, but I'm okay with it. I am also keeping games and apps to a minimum. I have better things to do with my "ah ha" moments than get to level 20 on a game no one cares about. Don't worry, I'm not giving up gaming, that would be silly. Just mobile gaming and social media. I also decided to move my charger to the kitchen counter instead of the bed side to avoid the whole "first thing I do when I get up is check all the things." I'll report in on how that is going in the future.

Oh, I got my fat bike back finally!!! I sent it into Trek for a mandatory recall. The front fork might fail, so it needed a replacement. So when I brought it in they informed me they have to make more in the factory as they have ran out. Sigh, okay. Well 2.5 months later, I got my bike back and a $100 gift card. I got a new jacket. So I went out on a little 10 mile ride. Pretty great day for it, sunny and 25 degrees. Not bad for this time of the year. We have had some weird weather lately and it left the trails with a nice thick layer of ice with a little fluff of snow on top. It was a good time minus my fall. I got stuck in my clip in and my front tire slid out. If you go on the Ice Age Trail in Verona anytime soon, be warned, its icy. I also got to try out my new Bar Mitts. If you are in the market and debating if they are worth it, they are. AMAZING difference. You can wear thing spring gloves in 20 degree weather and its completely fine. I didn't even notice but my hands were actually warm by the end of the trip. They are excellent. I love biking in the winter. Its so peaceful, quiet, and relaxing. I wish there was more snow and less ice but alas. It was still a good time.

Last but not least we picked out everything for our house, eek! Such a neat process. Its overwhelming at first, so many options, but once we started breaking it down bit by bit we found that it wasn't so bad. It took about 3 trips to the design studio but we did it. We are going for a farm house feel on the inside, but trying to stay within our budget. We are very happy with our selections. We are going to do toast stain on maple for our trim, cabinets, and doors. Cloud white ceiling and walls. Our floor is going to be a wood looking vinyl that is a floating floor. The fireplace is going to have that stone looking brick as the surround, then have a toast stained surround around that. Upstairs the bathrooms are going to have a grey top with a stone looking floor. Our lighting on the main floor is going to be all brushed bronze, upstairs will be bronze for the bedrooms, but brushed nickle in the bathrooms. Going outside we will have a blue front door, blueish grey siding, and white trim. That is really an overview but checkout the pictures for all the samples. Fun times.

We have also driven by our lot to find they are starting to get ready to break ground. So excited for that. My only question is, do I get to keep the plow?

Hi everyone! I'm from West Michigan, and now living in Madison, WI. I enjoy a good conversation about anything. I love learning new things. My primary interests are: running, bicycling, auto racing, and video games. I also enjoy anything that has to do with a computer.